Kane's Challenge

From Command and Conquer Wiki

Kane's challenge was a testing program for potential Nod commanders devised shortly after the Third Tiberium War. The Challenge was a gauntlet of simulated battles wherein the test taker would choose a force and compete against various armies. The armies in the simulation were designed to be completely accurate to their real-life battle capabilities to ensure valid results.

The forces that a potential commander could select to lead or to fight against were the basic GDI, Nod, and Scrin armies, as well as two specialized sub-factions for each; the Steel Talons, ZOCOM, the Black Hand, the Marked of Kane, Reaper-17, and Traveler-59. The Nod leaders who administered the test included the GDI and Scrin factions as a way of adversarial training; to allow the prospects a chance to learn the strengths and weaknesses of each army.

Kane himself would brief prospects during the tests; giving a brief history of the force the commander selected, as well as a congratulatory speech following a commander completing all simulations with a faction.

[edit] The Stages

There were ten stages to Kane's challenge, pitting a candidate against all of the selectable factions. Each mission begins with the candidate having a single Construction yard, typically located near a Tiberium field for resources. The opposing force would have their own base already set up; and would generally attempt to expand across the map. The stages became progressively more difficult, with the opposing force having larger, more defended, or even multiple bases. The stages were, in order of appearance:

The Cost of Devotion

Defeat the Black Hand in a glittering Blue zone city.

The Eradication Principle

Defeat ZOCOM in their rural Blue zone headquarters.

Mind Games

Defeat the Scrin Traveler-59 Sect as they invade the Blue Zone suburbs.

The Empty

Defeat the Marked of Kane in the snowy Yellow zone tundra.

Out of the Past

Defeat the Steel Talons in a recently resettled Yellow zone.

The Reaping

Defeat Reaper-17 on this Blue zone research island.

The Best Defense

Defeat GDI in this snow covered Yellow zone mountain range.

The Devoted

Defeat Nod in their inhospitable Yellow zone base.

Ancient Foes

Defeat the Scrin in a Tiberium blighted Red zone.

The End Complete

Defeat combined Reaper-17 and Marked of Kane forces in a devastated Red Zone.